And I had hair
You had hair and ape handlebars?
(I must watch Easy Rider some time.)
I’ve never seen it either, I was never really a biker and only had my one and only bike because I thought I couldn’t afford a car. Ironically that bike cost me 50 quid which I paid off over a year at a pound a week, but both of my first 2 cars afterwards I only paid £5 each for.
I never fancied one of those bikes shown, it always seemed to me to be a distinctly uncomfortable position to ride in, especially over a long distance, with your hands up in the air like that.
Absolutely - choppers are all about style not comfort.
Riders of American bikes will tell you that the foot-forward riding position is more comfortable, but I’m not convinced. I think the wind pressure on your chest and arms would be annoying and tiring - but then again they don;t usually ride very fast.
Although to be fair I’ve never ridden a Harley so can’t say from personal experience either way.
Choppers are horrifically uncomfortable to ride, but the 1930s engine design usually causes something important to fall off before you’ve gone far anyway.
My most disappointing bike to ride was a mint late 1960s Triumph Bonneville in the late 1980s. Vibrated like Masey Ferguson, accelerated at about the same rate and had the stopping distance of an Inter-City 125.
I’m guessing being raised on Japanese bikes ruined me.
I was always more of an ace bars man myself.
They’ve (or a least had) a clutch that developed muscles in your forearm like Popeye’s. I used to just throttle back and snick into the next gear without using the clutch. But they’re a clunky agricultural boxes and it takes time get the trick of doing it smoothly. I remember telling a bike instructor this and he was horrified. I came to the conclusion the twerp didn’t understand dog engagement boxes vs his car’s synchro one.
That was akin to swearing to my generation. Harleys were considered a dream never proved and never would, but apart from that if it wasn’t British it wasn’t a proper bike.
Beezers, Triumphs, Nortons, Vincents, Ariels, Velocettes etc. etc., those were the magic words, nothing else would do. One mate had an Ariel Square Four, a thing of wonder, but another had an Ariel Leader which, because of its all round fairing was thought to be a bit girlie. A bit like those Velos, water cooled and silent that bobbies with normal hats used to ride
I stuck to my solid 250 BSA C12 for a year. made sure to have a peaked helmet as I was told it would protect my pretty face in an accident. which meant goggles not visor, and then straight to cars.
Presumably a “FIZZIE”? - now that word will show the ages of many of you
Aged about 8, I was allowed into my uncle’s den - a corrugated iron/brick Air Raid Shelter installed in my grand parent’s back garden in Manchester. It contained a BSA, then a Bonneville, then a Norton Commando.
Due to him, when I grew up I also bought a 125 FS1E. Well, to improve we must all make mistakes!
I then lived in London and moved swiftly to a Harley 90cc- yes, not a keyboard error, 90cc! They really did make them, a rebadged Italian bike. I bought it from FH Warr in Kings Road. A Warr family member, who is on this site, told me he remembers them ( I will not reveal the rest of the conversation).
Now back on-thread ( I became a voluntary ACU bike riding instructor)
Seating position
Ride Easy Rider style can be really comfortable but if the unexpected happens you have no control
But for sleeping in, probably not the best position, but the last you may remember.
I grew up and turned to Germany and a BMW R60, then a 90, then up to the supreme 100LT.
No Easy Rider seat, but a sculptured one in proper leather, and a huge windscreen
Then, still alive and married, we took the bike and toured France for years.
Only item missing was - a windscreen wiper - but at 140mph who need one!
As you can tell, I still encourage sensible riding.
Yes that was Harley’s ill-fated period as part of the AMF (American Machine & Foundry) empire, when H-D tried to compete with the Japanese in their own terms by rebadging small capacity Aermacchi bikes.
Eventually Harley’s management staged a buyout and went back to making only Ancient Iron Things.
In the early 60s Japanese bikes were nothing to write home about, for sure; but once the Honda CB750 Four and the Kawasaki Z900 came out things changed very rapidly and British bike manufacturers did not update their models to compete, resulting in their fairly swift demise.
I had a Honda CB550K four which I bought in 1977 and it was a fantastic piece of engineering, and of course flawlessly reliable.
Nowadays the famous British brands (Triumph, Norton - sort of - and BSA) have been revived, still trading to some extent on nostalgia (e.g. the various flavours of Bonneville) but Triumph make some really good bikes nowadays that compete on level terms with the Japanese in tech and reliability.
Absolutely - the Yamaha FS1-E 49cc moped, but pretending to be something more exotic. My first bike. I spent a lot of time running it with or without the silencer baffle, trying to determine whether it was better to have the correct performance whilst quieter, or the noise that 16 year olds thought made it sound more powerful The local kids here in France continue such behaviour to this day…
Moved on to Honda CB175s (twice, the later one being the steed that brought me, via an inattentive car driver, a broken femur, broken ulna & cracked elbow. That didn’t stop me having a Honda 400 Four a while afterwards.
Unlikely, as there was no such thing, just the 49cc version.
The expression was ape hangers.
I had a couple of British bikes along with my Japanese machines: the BSA B175 came as a basket case, and I rebuilt it, but after a couple of weeks it nipped up and was disposed of pronto. Much later, after my Yamaha XS500 twin I had a BSA shooting star A7 - at first she was treated like the old lady that she was, and it was a fabulous if temperamental ride, but after a bit I gave her some stick and was rewarded with excellent performance followed by a broken crank.
The last serious bike was a Trident 900, but that was nothing like the old brit models and not much fun either, being heavy and very wallowey - got shot in 2008. There was a brief period with a Guzzi 500 more recently, bought to give our son a template and some wheels while he was rebuilding his basket case Guzzi 500, but it was a toy-sized bike, feeling more like a Japanese 200 or 250.
Ben - Cold winter Guzzi by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
Honda CB250, back when you could ride a 250 on L plates. Had plenty of friends who had Yamaha 350s, with the badges replaced with 250 ones (otherwise identical). They didn’t often live long…
Yes, I also fancied a Honda 400 four, a friend had one and they were very neat and chuckable.
Though I preferred two strokes, the simplicity and the banshee sound appealed to me. Another friend had a Suzuki 750 kettle but it was pretty boring. Yet another, who I haven’t seen since 1976 but just heard is alive and well, used to race a Barton/Sparton ??? which had a kettle engine.
We lost a friend in his late teens on his Kwaker 500 triple, but I did consider a calmer 400 triple some years later. I never got around to it.
When I was about fifteen the Kawasaki agent had a small workshop near my dentist. I don’t how they got in there because it was a quiet, leafy and respectable suburban road. The mechanics used to assemble the pre triple bikes, the ones with rotary valves (like a Bridgestone) and take them for a test blast up the road. Listening to them was a pleasant diversion when sitting in the waiting room
This is a lovely one.
My GP (MT) rides a Guzzi to work
I might have shared this before, but I often pop up to Belgium for the classic motorbike racing and this remains my favourite 2-stroke of all time, as well as being an incredible story.
I was gonna mention that, but 'till now could not be arsed. Apart from my current French ride and the '73 Uncle Bunt, all my bikes are pre '54 bar, some kept in France the but the prize machines are kept in Morocco. The weather and the empty roads favour them
It was really the era and the social commentary I was going on about, but a bit of techie talk is always fun
Tell us what you’ve got stashed away.